


Poorly kept secrets

by kittybenzedrine



Series: Timelines [8]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Childbirth, F/M, Mentioned Infidelity, secrecy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-29 20:55:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12093255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittybenzedrine/pseuds/kittybenzedrine
Summary: Ren tries to hide the pregnancy from him this time, but he knows. Grief always knows._____All pieces of the Timelines series are standalones and can be read without context.





	Poorly kept secrets

This is her eighth child, Ren thinks to herself as she holds the crying infant to her chest. The seventh to survive. Her fifth daughter. She has no intention to keep this one either, but this one feels a little more important than the others. It's a shitty thing to say, but it's true. Grief didn't care about the other children she had, because she had them in secret and did her best to hide her infidelity.

The tiny girl, still covered in blood and afterbirth, is no doubt his. He knew she was pregnant, you can't sleep with someone and not know after the first few babies. But he wasn't sure if it was his, so he played ignorant as he always does.

He can't know she's his. She can't let any of her children become like her and Grief. Warlords, mercenaries. All of Grief's children have followed in his footsteps, most were soldiers in their armies of men. Ren has seen the proofs of his infidelity, his perfect carbon copies, has given them orders in battle.

She can't let that happen. So Ren cleans herself up, cleans the baby. Gets rid of all of the evidence that she has given birth in their bedroom for the eighth time. She helps the baby latch to her breast to keep the tiny thing quiet while she packs a bag.

Still torn and aching from squeezing out a baby, she takes a horse and begins her journey, a plan forming as she goes. Ren is long gone by the time Grief arrives back home that evening.

 

 

Tabitha seems surprised to see her. She seems even more surprised to see the baby attached to Ren's breast, barely two weeks old.

"Aunt Reneea, what are you doing here?" Tabitha asks, ushering Ren into her little house.

Ren smiles, clearly tired. She relaxes into a seat before even bothering to look back up at her niece. "I need a favor from you, Tabby-cat. A very, very big favor. But I wouldn't be here if I didn't think you'd agree."

Tabitha looks at the small infant still attached to her aunt's breast. "Why do I have the feeling it has to do with the baby and uncle Leo?"

"Because it does, my girl. I can't let her grow up with he or I. You know what we are. Murderers. Vicious humans who kill at a whim. We aren't good people, Tabby. I can't let her become like us. But you, you're a good woman. There's a reason you're our favorite niece, because there's something good and pure about your soul." Ren stops, gently detaching the now sleeping baby from her breast. She adjusts the top of her dress before continuing. "And I know you're barren, honey. I want to give you the chance to be the mother you've always wanted to be. I want _her_ to have a chance."

Ren stands, and Tabitha takes the baby when she's offered to her. "The only thing I ask you do is don't change her name. It's Rachel. Give her whatever middle and last name you desire, but please, keep the name Rachel."

Her niece stays silent, looking down at the little baby in her arms. Ren watches as Tabitha's eyes begin to tear up.

"Will you do it?"

Tabitha looks up, cradling the little bundle close to her chest. Unwilling to let her go. Unwilling to give her back. "Of course, Reneea. I'll keep her."

Ren nods, and kisses her niece on the forehead. "Thank you, my love. Anything you need, write me. I have to leave, because your uncle is no doubt only a few hours away, maybe less. Keep her safe, Tabby."

 

 

"It was mine, wasn't it?" Grief asks, keeping her wrists pinned above her head against the tree. They'd crossed paths in the deeply forested area leading to the village she grew up in, and he cornered her.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she growls, trying to fight out of his grip. He's bruising her wrists, no doubt. He holds her firm.

"Bullshit. I know every time you're pregnant. Our bedchambers reeked of blood when I got there that night. One of the stable hands saw you leaving with a little bundle held suspiciously to your breast as if you were feeding it."

"I don't know what you're fucking talking about."

Grief squeezes get wrists tighter and brings their faces closer. "So if I check under your dress, you'll be fine? Or will you still be torn open from giving birth less than two weeks ago? Have rag after rag soaked with blood, lying to me and telling me you just happen to be menstruating for two months straight again? If I squeeze your breasts, no milk will come from having to feed a growing infant?"

She grits her teeth and refuses to answer, because she knows he'll check if she calls his bluff. And they both know he's right.

"Was. It. Mine. And where. Is. It," he hisses in a low, even tone. A demand, not a question.

"I gave it to our niece because I was sick of seeing the evidence of my infidelity all around our home being raised by our servants," she spits back. "Or would you want to raise that one? Would you like to raise all of them? Having your little blonde haired, blue eyed children while you've got black hair and brown eyes?

He ignores her jab about raising the others. "If it's mine, I want to keep tabs on it. Tell me the fucking truth, Renee."

"It's not fucking yours, Leo! Do you know why I went through all the trouble of bring it out here? Because our favorite niece, dear little Tabby, is barren." Ren's voice raises the longer goes on. "She can't have children, Leo, and she wants them. So I gave her the bastard child and begged her to give it a good life because I have no desire to be a mother. I'd sooner smother it than raise it."

He stares at her for a long while, and eventually lets go. He staggers a bit as she gives a quick, sharp punch to his solar plexus. A surge of anger flares through his veins, but he lets it go as he watches her struggle to remount her horse through the pain between her legs. She's suffering more than enough for his taste.

He'll write Tabitha soon. Maybe visit her and her new baby. After all, if it's not his, surely it won't look like him.

**Author's Note:**

> jokes on Ren the baby ends up becoming a warlord in her adulthood anyway lmao
> 
> I have [my blog](http://iwillpooponthefloor.tumblr.com) on tumblr, if you'd like to check that out.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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